Speaking about Japanese modern literature, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's name is one of the first names that undoubtedly has to be mentioned. One of the most popular Japanese prose writers in the West, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō is well-known for masterfully portraying psychological situations in his novels and plays. A brilliant virtuoso of stylization and aestheticism, he is one of the most important figures in the history of Japanese literature. His significance in Japanese modern literature could be compared to the significance of the author Kim Dong-in in Korean modern literature. Kim Dong-in's opus is one of the most interesting phenomena in Korean literature of the first half of the 20th century. He is famous for innovating Korean fiction's language and for playing an important role in the development of Korean modern literature. Both writers were active on the literary scene of East-Asia in the first half of the 20th century, though Tanizaki started writing earlier since he was born 14 years earlier than Kim Dong-in. Though not major works of either author, both Tanizaki Jun’ichirō and Kim Dong-in at one point in their literary careers had written short stories in which the plot centers around a main character who is an artistic persona driven by a bordering-on-madness desire to create a masterpiece: Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s The Tattooer (Shisei) in 1910, and Kim Dong-in’s Tale of a Mad Painter (Kwanghwasa) in 1935. After reading these two short stories anyone would notice some similarities in their plot, motifs, and structure. While Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s The Tattooer and Kim Dong-in’s Tale of a Mad Painter are individual artistic works with their own uniqueness, it seems like there is a connection between them. This assumption is also briefly mentioned in the works Empire of texts in motion: Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese transculturations of Japanese literature (2009) by K.L. Thornber and Kim Tongin Yeongu (1985) by C. Kim. However, since this assumption is not elaborated in detail, the purpose of this research is to try to reveal the connection between the short stories by comparison of the common literary influences on both authors through analysis of the stories’ structures, motifs, and plot development. The hypothesis of the author of this thesis was that these two stories have a connection, they were written under the influence of the same literary works, and The Tattooer by Tanizaki Jun'ichirō had an influence on Kim Dong-in's Tale of a Mad Painter. A comparison of common literary influences on both authors was made through an analysis of the literature dealing with the oeuvres of the authors. For the analysis of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's oeuvre the following works were used: Remembering Tanizaki Jun’ichiro and Matsuko: Diary Entries, Interview Notes, and Letters, 1954-1989. (2017) by A.H. Chambers, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō to Kim Dong-in bungaku ni okeru bi no keisei toshite no mozō (2019) by M.H. Gil, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō no seikimatsu (2002) by K. Inoue, The alien within: representations of the exotic in twentieth-century Japanese literature (2009) by L. Morton, and Modern Japanese writers and the nature of literature (1976) by M. Ueda. For the analysis of Kim Dong-in's oeuvre the following works were used: Tanizaki Jun'ichirō to Kim Dong-in bungaku ni okeru bi no keisei toshite no mozō (2019) by M.H. Gil, commentary in the Japanese translation of Kim Dong-in’s anthology (2011) by S. Hatano, Naturalistic sensibility and modern Korean literature: Kim Tongin (2008) by H. Kim, Poetika rasskazov Kim Dong Ina (2012) by I.L. Park, and Twentieth-Century Korean Literature (2005) by N. Yi, C. U, K. Yi and M. Kim. A comparison of the two short stories was made through the analysis of structural units with similar motifs and plot development. Results of the comparison of common literary influences showed that, as assumed in the hypothesis, the two short stories were written under the same literary influences. Tanizaki Jun’ichirō and Kim Dong-in, both among the most prominent representatives of their national literatures, were greatly inspired by Western fiction and non-fiction literature in the early stage of their literary careers, therefore they borrowed some motifs for their works. The theme of the relationship between art and violence and the motif of the artist obsessed with the desire to create an artistic masterpiece in The Tattooer and Tale of a Mad Painter are most likely inspired by Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Oval Portrait. The motifs of sexual perversions in these short stories mirror the deep impression left on the both authors by the scientific work of Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing titled Psychopathia Sexualis. Results of the comparative analysis of structural units with similar motifs and plot development also showed that not only were the writers inspired by the same works, but the story Tale of a Mad Painter itself intertextually reworked Tanizaki’s The Tattooer, whether Kim Dong-in did it intentionally or unconsciously. Both The Tattooer and Tale of a Mad Painter can be divided into smaller structural units that have similar motifs and plot development: 1) setting the historical period where the main character lives, 2) introducing the main character and his passion for art, 3) birth of the artistic desire, 4) looking for the victim, 5) encountering the victim, 6) realization of the main character’s artistic desire. Each of these parts has a similar development of the story – characters commit similar acts and their artistic desire develops into obsession in the same way. Nevertheless, Kim Dong-in adjusted motifs of Edo and its culture to Korean realities, setting his story in Seoul during the period of King Sejong the Great's reign. He also changed the main character's physical appearance and personality, leaving only the crucial common characteristic – obsession hidden in the artist's mind. The length of Tale of a Mad Painter is greater than The Tattooer's length due to more detailed insights into the protagonist's thoughts and more detailed descriptions of every scene. Kim Dong-in also made the narration in his story more complex by introducing the “story within a story” literary device instead of plain third-person narration. Tale of a Mad Painter has a darker and more violent ending than the ending of The Tattooer, probably reflecting tragic events in Korea and in Kim Dong-in’s life. Of course, despite the fact that Kim Dong-in's Tale of a Mad Painter is reminiscent of Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's The Tattooer, it was created as a self-contained unique literary work and therefore should be appreciated as one.